Fire door



Nov. 20, 1923. 1,474,345

c. R. BUMBARGER FIRE DOOR Filed Nov. 30. 1921, v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1N ENTO L4 TTORNE y Nov. 2o,1923.. 1,474,345

C. R. BUMBARGER FIRE DOOR Filed Nov. 30. 1921 2 Sheets-Shat 2 50 jza ZNVENTOR AT'TORNEY a Patented. Nov. 20, 1923.

UNITED STATES eA'rsN-r orrice.

CLARENCE R. BUMIBARGEB, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE W.

JOHNSON MANUFACTURING- TION OF MISSOURI.

COMPANY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, A CORPORA- FIRE DOOR.

Application filed November 30. 1921. Serial No. 518,801.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE 1?. Born BARGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire Doors; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to fire doors and particularly to means for operating the same.

By the term fire doors I contemplate any device which is capable of closing an opening, such as a window, door or the like, and

the invention includes means for temporarily holding a flexible door inoperative but which will automatically operate to allow the door to drop into closing position without undue jar on the mandrel or roller which supports the flexible door, thereby avoiding the liability of the door being torn or broken away from the mandrel or roller which supports it.

Fire doors are frequently constructed with mandrels and flexible panels or doors wound thereon, which can be caused to automatically unwind when the occasion demands. The doors are usually constructed of sheet metal and as they drop, there is liability of them becoming torn from their inandrels.

I have provided an equalizing means whereby the weight of the door may be resisted by a coil spring or set of springs, the tension of which will be substantially equal to or slightly less than the weight of the door so that the door may move into place for closing the opening without subjecting the parts to undue jars, as explained above.

The novel construction of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fire door operating mechanism constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig; 2 is an enlarged end view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view through the casing, the drum or mandrel and the which will be put drawings with an opening 2 surrounded by a suitable frame 8. Carried by the upper edge of the frame is a casing 4, in the opposite ends 5 and 6 of which is supported a longitudinal shaft 7. Surrounding the shaft 7 is a rotatable drum or mandrel 8, to which one end 9 of a. coil spring 10is secured, the other end 11 of the spring being fastened to the shaft '7. The spring may be of appropriate width or a plurality of springs may be located along the mandrel and shaft, if desired.

One end of a curtain or door 12 is fastened to the mandrel or drum, as at 13, the body portion of the curtain or door extending through an opening 14 in the bottom of the casing 4 and slidable in the guides 15 and 16 so that as it unwinds from the drum, it

will close the opening 2, the spring being so arranged that when the curtain or door unwinds, the spring will wind and vice versa. Thus the unwinding movement of the door or curtain will be opposed by the spring,

under tension progressively as the door or curtain unwinds from its drum'or mandrel.

The shaft 7 has one end exending through the end wall of the casing at and it carries a gear 17 provided with a plurality of equidistantly spaced lugs or projections 18, 19,

20, 2]. respectively.

The opposite faceof the gear is provided with teeth 22, which are engaged by a pinion 23 on the transverse shaft 24-, mounted in the bearings 25 and 26 so that as the shaft 7 24 is rotated, the gear will be rotated, in turn imparting a rotative movementto the shaft 7 and winding up the spring or'putting it under tension from the center so that its tension with respect to the drum or mandrel may be increased or diminished, dep zendent upon the rotative action of the gear 1 The gear 17 is provided with an out i preventing a in its wound position.

shown as comprising a standing lug or projection 27, adapted to contact with the stop 28, sleeved on the shaft 24: and secured thereto by a set screw 29, the stop having an upstanding finger against which the lug or projection 2? may contact, as will be explained hereinafter,

there being an arcuate guide 31 carried by the end 6 of the casing a, over which the lug 27 may ride in moving into engagement with the stop.

Means is provided for temporarily holding the gear 17 rigid and thereby holding the shaft 7 rigid when the curtain door is The means for holdrotat're movement is pivoted arm 32 provided at one end with a right angular projection 33 having a slot engaged by a pin 85 on a crank 36 of the shaft 537 mounted in the bearing 38.

T he shaft 37 carries weighted crank arm 39 provided with an adjustable weight 39 and normally held in a horizontal position by a suspending cord or cable 49, connected at one end to the arm 39 by a fusible link 41 and to the ceiling or other support by a fusible link 42. The arm 32 also carries a pivoted detent 43, pivoted to id arm atl l and having an overbalance weighted end 25 normally tending to raise the toe d6 of the detent in position to contact with one of the pins 18, 19, 20 and 21. Therefore, as the shaft 2% is rotated to turn the shaft 7, the gear will be rotated, causing the pins 18, 19, 20 and 21 to ride over the detent but retrograde movement because the toe 46 will be depressed as one of the lugs 18 to 21 passes over it but will move into obstructing position as soon as the lug has passed over it. Therefore, the gear can only rotate in one direction and that is the direction for tensioning the spring 10.

i It will be seen then that as the gear 17 rotates to turn the shaft 7 to tension "the spring, the tension of the spring will be maintained until it will. counterbalance the weight of the door or shutter in such a way ing the gear against 1 that-the door or shutter me be "manually "manipulated to cause it to wind or unwind from its mandrel or drum after the manner of a roller curtain. The weight of the door or curtain, however, is enough to slightly overbalance the spring so that it will have a tendency to unwind.

The parts are then positioned as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. if there is a fire and one of the fusible links e1 or .42 fuses, the arm 39 will no longer be held in a horizontal position but will be caused to drop by the coun terbalance weight 39,-rocking the shaft 3'? and swinging the crank 36 so that the arm 32 will move downward, carrying the detent 43 away from engagement with thelug or projection 18, 19, 20 or 21. which it previously had been engaging. Then the gear 1'? ,door or curtain '12 will be sufficient will be free to rotate the curtain or door because there will be nothing to hold the drum 8 or the shaft '7 from rotating. The lug 2'? will move in an are at a rapid rate until it strikes against the finger 30 of the stop 28 when it will come to a sudden stop but the inertia of the to continue to unwind by rotating the oruin against the action of the spring 10. The unwind'ng or the curtain as abovestated will increase the tension of the spring so that the door will finish its closing movement without undue jar or vihrationof the parts to which it is attached; thereby, lial'rility of the door or curtain tearing anchorage or drum will be prevented.

When it is desired to set the device, the screw 29 is loosened so that the stop 28 will not turn with the shaft 24;. The crank a7 is then placed on the angular end shaft 24 and the shaft is turned so that the inion 23 will operate the gear 17, turning the shaft 7 to wind the spring 10 to put it under tension. hen it is under tension sufficiently to cause the mandrel or drum 8 have sufficient tension dinary shade roller so that the flexible door This or curtain can be raised or lowered.

will be due to the fact that the stored tension in the spring will be that which is required to counterbalance the weight of the door or curtain and the shaft 7 will be held rigid because one of the pins or projections 18, 19, 20 or 21 will be held by the toe 4.6 of the detent a3 and the dog will beheld in position because the arm 39 will be held up by the flexible connection 40 secured thereto by the fusible link 421.

The parts will normally above described until the links 410' or 42 are fused, permitting the M11139 to drop, releasing the detent from engagement with the gear and allowing the lug 27 to strikev The inltial movement of the against the stop. door is not retarded by tension of the spring so that by the time the stops come in contact inertia has been overcome and weight of the unwound portlon of the door is suflost will be that which has been lost during under the weight of loose from its d8 of the.

the spring operate then as the time that the lug 27 is moving from its normal position into contact with the stop, so in order to restore the door to its normal operating position, it will only be necessary to attach the crank 4'7 to the end 48 of the shaft 2a and reverse the gear until the lug 27 assumes the position shown in Fig.

When the door drops of course the gear will rotate the shaft 24: through the medium of the pinion that the stop 28 will be swung through a circle but there is clearance enough between it and the end 6 of the casing a to permit it to swing. The stop, however, will be positioned to time in its swinging movement with the lug 27 so that it will be in position to obstructthe swinging movement of the lug 27 when the lug reaches the position to contact with it.

Attention is also called to the fact that the entire operating mechanism is controlled from one end of the roller or mandrel, that is, the means for winding the mandrel so as to load up the spring as well as the means for temporarily releasing the spring is all at one end of the (door shaft or roller where it is readily accessible, thus facilitating the manipulation of the parts to effect the desired result.

lVhat I claim and Letters-Patent is:

1. A fire door comprising a rotatable shaft and a drum rotatable about the shaft, a spring connecting the shaft and drum, a flexible door wound on the drum, a winding desire to secure by shaft geared to the drum shaft, stop member rotatable with the drum shaft, a stop shaft geared to the drumshaft, a stop memb'er rotatable with the drum shaft, a stop member adjustable 011 and rotatable with the winding shaft in timed relation to the other stop member, and a detent for the drum shaft.

3. A fire door comprising a rotatable shaft and a drum rotatable about the shaft, a spring connecting the shaft and drum, :1 flexible door wound on the drum, a winding shaft geared to the drum shaft, a stop mem ber rotatable with the drum shaft, a stop member adjustable on and rotatable with the Winding shaft in timed relation to the other stop member, a guide over which the drum shaft stop member rides to contact with the winding shaft stop member, and a detent for the drum shaft.

4. A fire door comprising a rotatable shaft and a drum rotatable about the shaft, a spring connecting the shaft and arm, a gear wheel on the shaft having a stop lug, a winding shaft, a pinion on the winding shaft engaging said gear wheel, a stop member adjustable on the winding shaftfor engagement by the lug on the gear wheel, and a detent for the drum shaft.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CLARENCE R. BUMBARGER. 

